Mele Kyari: NDSA Calls On IGP To Investigate Threat To Instigate Mayhem In N’Delta Amid Sara-Igbe’s ‘Sponsored Malicious’ Claims

The Niger Delta Stakeholders Assembly (NDSA) has accused Anabs Sara-Igbe of being a “meddlesome interloper” and “notorious gold digger” allegedly being used by Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan and Umar Ajiya to discredit Mele Kyari, Group Chief Executive Officer of the Nigeria National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL).

Eyesan, is the Executive Vice President, Upstream, NNPCL, while Ajiya, is the Chief Financial Officer (CFO).

The development is coming following media appearance by the said Sara-Igbe who was said to threatened mayhem in the Niger Delta if President Bola Tinubu didn’t sack Mele Kyari as NNPCL’S GCEO.

According to the NDSA in a statement signed by Akpoebi Awoalaye-Ofori (President) and Anetorufa Gabriel (Secretary), “Sara-Igbe is a self-acclaimed national coordinator of an amorphous group, South/South Elder’s Forum, which he founded and is the only member.”

The group claims Sara-Igbe has no visible means of livelihood and survives by taking on “any assignment to discredit anyone so far the price is right.”

The NDSA also stated that Sara-Igbe’s accusations against Mele Kyari, including claims that Warri and Port Harcourt Refineries were operating optimally before being shut down, demonstrate “crass ignorance” and are “arrant nonsense.”

The group alleged that the said Sara-Igbe is being used by the two NNPCL top shots to discredit Mele Kyari to pave way for his sack and subsequent replacement.

“Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan and Umar Ajiya are behind the tension and panic in NNPCL. They are the one sponsoring Sara-Igbe and other notorious elements to pull down the roof because of their inordinate ambition to unseat Mele Kyari as NNPCL’s GCEO.

“They are deliberately creating crisis valves within the system in order to pull down the roof. Who is the most senior Niger Deltan in the management cadre of NNPCL Sara-Igbe chorused copiously in his media interviews? Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan is the person”.

“One would have expected him to muster courage by calling on his principals and sponsors in the like of the Executive Vice President, Upstream, NNPCL, Mrs. Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan and Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Mr. Umar Ajiya, to quit since they have lost the momentum to function as senior members of the company’s management team”, they stated.

“Those behind the moves to get rid of Mele Kyari because they are hunted by his patriotic zeal and commitment to deliver on the RENEWED HOPE AGENDA of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, are working on two permutations.

“They are favouring Umar Ajiya from the North and Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan from the Niger Delta, to unseat Mele Kyari. Who appointed Sara-Igbe as spokesman of the Niger Delta?

“At what forum was a decision reached in the entire Niger Delta that Mele Kyari must be eased out by January, 2025 or hell would be let loose in the region.

“The decision must have been reached way back at the forum of the so-called South/South Elder’s Forum, where Sara-Igbe is the sole administrator.

“Oritsemeyiwa Eyesan and Umar Ajiya must have sponsored his meeting to come up with a one- man squad communique threatening mayhem in the Niger Delta in the event that President Tinubu preserved Mele Kyari in office beyond January, 2025”.

The group therefore called on the Inspector General of Police, Mr. Kayode Egbetokun, to summon Sara-Igbe for interrogation over his threat to instigate crisis of unprecedented dimension in the Niger Delta in the event that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu preserved Mele Kyari in office beyond January, 2025.

“This threat is weighty. It cannot be ignored in view of the prevailing palpable insecurity in the country. We should avoid any action capable of truncating the prevail fragile peace in the Niger Delta”, they added.